A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Espershields from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"ESPERSHIELDS, a township in Bywell-St. Peter parish, Northumberland; on the river Derwent, contiguous to [County] Durham, 8 miles S by E of Corbridge. It includes a place called Millshield. Acres: 3,389. Population: 182. Houses: 31.

Espershields was originally a township in the ancient parish of Bywell St. Peter. It became a separate civil parish in 1866. From 1894 until 1955 it was part of Hexham Rural District. In 1955 it was absorbed into the civil parish of Healey.

Co-ordinates taken from Google Earth. Espershields and Millshield are not marked but the Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club is almost directly south of Healey, matching the location of Espershields in respect to Healey on the 1900 Ordnance Survey map listed below.

Research Tips

Northumberland Archives previously known as Northumberland Collections Service and Northumberland County Record Office. Now based within Woodhorn Museum in Ashington and providing free access to numerous records for local and family historians alike.

Northumberland and Durham FHS covers both Northumberland and County Durham. The Family History Society have a research centre in Percy House in central Newcastle upon Tyne (full address on website), open Monday to Friday from 10 am to 4 pm. Browse the website to see what else the society can provide.